HONEY BEE COLONY LOSSES IN45 UKRAINE: RESULTS AFTER THE WINTER OF 2020–2021

Abstract

The western honey bee (Apis mellifera L., Hymenoptera: Apidae) is a species of invaluable economic, agricultural and environmental importance. However, over the last decades, most countries around the world have faced serious problems of bee health and surviving. The purpose of this study was to analyze the success of A. mellifera colonies wintering in Ukraine (2020–2021). The research was conducted by interviewing practicing beekeepers according to a standardized protocol developed by the monitoring coordinators of the international association COLOSS. The total losses of bee colonies after the winter of 2020–2021 in Ukraine was 15.18%, having increased 1.6 times compared to the last year (9.29%). The mortality rate (8.93%) also increased (after the winter of 2019-2020 it was 5.41%). The rate of fatal problems with the queens (4.58%) increased 2.1 times (after the winter of 2019-2020 - 2.19%), while losses due to natural disasters did not change (1.7%). The highest total losses were recorded in the mixed forest and steppe zones: 23.7% and 21.6% respectively. Mor-tality varied in different physiographic zones from 7.22% to 12.79%; losses due to queen problems ranged from 2.79% to 12.01%. For the first time we found that the loss rate due to queen problems (12.01%) prevails over the mor-tality rate (10.34%) in the mixed forest zone. Significantly higher losses were found in small apiaries (24.63%) com-pared to medium and large (15.29% and 9.80% respectively). The number of beekeepers who treated their colonies for varroosis increased (97.38% compared to 90.6% after the winter of 2019-2020). 15.34% of the respondents treated colonies without prior monitoring and 1.62% of respond-ents, on the contrary, only monitored but did not treat their colonies. 0.87% of beekeepers did not monitor or treat the colonies. The majority of respondents chose drugs based on amitraz (fumigation – 39.95%, plates – 22.54%) and flumethrin (17.29%). Ukrainian beekeepers reduce using of folk remedies for varroosis (2.18% before the winter of 2020-2021, 3.60% – before the winter of 2019-2020 and 6.65% – before the winter of 2018-2019).